by During the initial preparation of an EB-5 project, it is important to review documentation with an eye to the future, anticipating what will be necessary to support an investor’s I-829 petition. Generally, each job created by an EB-5 project must be evidenced in that investor’s I-829 petition. Furthermore, the I-829 petition will need to include evidence that the investor sustained his or her investment in the new commercial enterprise.
An I-829 petition should include basic evidence regarding the new commercial enterprise, such as annual tax filings, monthly bank statements, press releases or other publicly available data on the EB-5 project, and certificates of good standings for the entities involved. When an EB-5 project creates jobs solely through construction, records of construction spending will be key. These types of records can include quarterly summaries of expenditures, copies of requisitions, copies of deposited checks, evidence of wire transfer to construction contractors, and copies of invoices for expenses. Furthermore, EB-5 project developers should prepare yearly detailed summaries of the costs of construction. If the EB-5 project is creating jobs directly, detailed payroll records, I-9 forms and W-2s will need to be included in the I-829 petition.
On the investor side, investors should retain all correspondence received from their EB-5 project. Correspondence between the investor and the EB-5 project may be useful in an I-829 petition, and an investor should not to rely on the EB-5 project to produce such correspondence at a later date. Investor evidence at the I-829 petition stage may include Schedule K-1s, personal annual tax filings, and update letters from the EB-5 project. Additionally, investors who are arrested or detained by law enforcement while in the United States as conditional permanent residents will have to provide evidence of that arrest or detainment in their I-829 petition. The documentation noted here is not comprehensive, and the nature of the EB-5 project will dictate the evidence to be provided at the I-829 petition stage. It is important that investors and developers of EB-5 projects anticipate and plan for such documentation to ensure a successful I-829 petition.
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